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The European Skills Agenda is a five-year plan to help individuals and businesses develop more and better skills and to put them to use, by: strengthening sustainable competitiveness; ensuring social fairness, putting into practice the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights - access to education, training and lifelong learning for everybody, everywhere in the EU; and building resilience to react to crises, based on the lessons learnt during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The European Skills Agenda includes 12 actions: (1) A Pact for Skills; (2) Strengthening skills intelligence; (3) EU support for strategic national upskilling action; (4) Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Vocational Education and Training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience; (5) Rolling out the European universities initiative and upskilling scientists; (6) Skills to support the green and digital transitions; (7) Increasing STEM graduates and fostering entrepreneurial and transversal skills; (8) Skills for Life; (9) Initiative on Individual Learning Accounts; (10) A European approach to micro-credentials; (11) New Europass Platform; (12) Improving the enabling framework to unlock Member States' and private investments in skills.

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Common objectives for education and training in the countries of the European Union (EU) were endorsed by government leaders in Barcelona in 2002 as a result of conclusions reached in Lisbon in 2000. A new process of cooperation in education and training was initiated and underpinned by the Education & Training 2010 strategy, a long-term project governed by the European Commission (EC) which aims to contribute to the Lisbon Strategy in the area of education and training. The goal of the project is to see Europe recognised by 2010 as the world leader in terms of the quality of its education and training systems. The Education Council intends to use indicators and benchmarks to monitor and measure the progress being made in relation to the 13 identified objectives of education and training systems (outlined in a previous report, indexed at TD/TNC 80.530). This working paper is the second annual report examining the performance and progress of education and training systems in the EU using these indicators. Performance and progress is detailed under the following nine areas: improving the quality of teachers and trainers; developing skills for the knowledge society; increasing recruitment to scientific and technical studies; making best use of resources; open learning environment, social inclusion, and active citizenship; making learning more attractive; improving foreign language learning; mobility and cooperation; and ensuring access to information and communications technology (ICT) for everyone. This regular monitoring will identify strengths and weaknesses and inform the implementation of the Education & Training 2010 strategy.

Selected documents relating to ‘Education and Training 2010’ are indexed from TD/TNC 80.530 to TD/TNC 80.541. Show less

The Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills is a new framework for strategic cooperation to address short and medium-term skills needs in a given economic sector. The publication outlines how stakeholders (businesses, trade unions, public authorities, research, education and training institutions etc.) can apply the framework to address sectoral challenges, illustrating the steps towards delivering sector-specific skills solutions through sectoral partnerships. The Blueprint currently focuses on six pilot sectors including: automotive; defence; maritime technology; space (geo-information); textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF); and tourism. It will be extended to additional sectors in the future.

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This communication from the European Commission proposes actions at national level and concrete initiatives at [European Union] EU level to support the modernisation of education and training systems for growth and jobs. These include delivering the right skills for employment and business creation, increasing the efficiency and inclusion of education and training institutions, and working collaboratively with stakeholders. The communication is accompanied by the first edition of the 'Education and training monitor' to provide a picture of current skills supply and progress towards the Europe 2020 headline targets, and six other staff working documents showcasing policy evidence and good practice.

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This [document] presents a review of the progress made since September 2007 when the 'Action plan on adult learning: it is always a good time to learn' was adopted by the European Commission. The action plan defined five concrete actions which the European Commission and Member States should seek to implement in order to increase participation in and quality of adult learning and develop efficient systems that reach all adults and involve all relevant stakeholders. Both the action plan and the Council Conclusions that endorsed it focused on disadvantaged groups such as low skilled, early school leavers and migrants. In fact their adult learning needs analysis was very far-sighted and highly relevant for today's Europe 2020 strategy.

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Following the publication of ‘A memorandum of lifelong learning’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.400) in October 2000, the European Commission invited Member States to launch a consultation process to collect together all views on how best to make progress in implementing lifelong learning. Feedback from the Europe-wide consultation was then used to develop the analysis and proposals in the Communication on ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.264). National reports were submitted by each Member State as well as by candidate countries and Iceland and Norway. This document is the national report from Portugal. The contents are: Description of the national consultation process; Portuguese contribution on each of the six key messages of the Memorandum; Aspects not covered by the six key messages; Development of a global coherent lifelong learning strategy.

Documents from ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ are indexed from TD/TNC 77.521 to TD/TNC 77.539. Show less

Following the publication of ‘A memorandum of lifelong learning’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.400) in October 2000, the European Commission invited Member States to launch a consultation process to collect together all views on how best to make progress in implementing lifelong learning. Feedback from the Europe-wide consultation was then used to develop the analysis and proposals in the Communication on ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.264). National reports were submitted by each Member State as well as by candidate countries and Iceland and Norway. This document is the national report from Denmark. It contains general comments and suggestions regarding themes, comments on the six key messages, and contributions on Danish experience concerning lifelong learning within the themes given.

Documents from ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ are indexed from TD/TNC 77.521 to TD/TNC 77.539. Show less

This conference paper focuses on training provided by firms. Many empirical studies demonstrate considerable variation across countries and across socio-economic groups in training participation rates, with Nordic countries showing higher participation than Southern European countries, and low-educated and older workers generally participating less than other groups in training activities. To investigate the reasons for this situation, the authors examine both the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical evidence in support of the under-provision of training. Under-provision is used to denote when 'training is below its efficient level, which equalises marginal social benefits to marginal social costs'. The authors argue that, if firms invest in general training, important evidence on under-provision can be gathered by examining the relationship between investment in training and labour turnover. They find evidence of a 'statistically significant and positive relationship between employer-provided training and subsequent turnover' for Denmark, Belgium, France and the UK. In the remaining countries the relationship is either not statistically significant or negative and statistically significant, as in the case of Finland. The evidence that, in no country except Finland, training significantly decreases the quit rate is suggestive of under-provision. The authors suggest that policies which aim at increasing the level of training above the market level should be designed to affect either supply or demand, or both.

Selected papers from the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 87.81 to TD/TNC 87.84. Show less

Hiring subsidies are an important measure extensively used by European Union Member States to promote employment in disadvantaged worker categories such as young and older people, the long-term unemployed and women. This review maps out the design of such subsidies and identifies good and effective practices in targeting, funding, monitoring and integrating incentives with other policies. It is intended as a source of mutual learning and transfer of good practices between Member States.

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Following the publication of ‘A memorandum of lifelong learning’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.400) in October 2000, the European Commission invited Member States to launch a consultation process to collect together all views on how best to make progress in implementing lifelong learning. Feedback from the Europe-wide consultation was then used to develop the analysis and proposals in the Communication on ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.264). National reports were submitted by each Member State as well as by candidate countries and Iceland and Norway. This document is the national report from Ireland. The contents are: Introduction; National context; Results from the consultation process; Recommendations to the Commission’s action plan.

Documents from ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ are indexed from TD/TNC 77.521 to TD/TNC 77.539. Show less